Starting Life From Zero: Far From Home

Chapter Forty-One

The sun had risen high enough into the sky for the golden band of dirt wrapped over the rolling hills that was the Lifau Highway to be visible. It stretched off into the distance disappearing into the tree-line. At the rate they were going the sun would be fully up by the time that they reached the manor, it was true that Peter could move fast, but not for as long and as consistently as the Ground Dragons.

Before he left, Crusch had decided to let Peter keep the Ground Dragon. About a dozen volunteers had decided to join the cause from the Subjugation Army not including Wilhelm, Ferris, and Ricardo. Kate Bishop had asked to come herself and Bucky had come along at Steve's request. The reinforcements Crusch had talked about were needed at the site of the Whale battle, but Otto Suwen, who had ferried them out would continue on to the Roswaal domain with Peter and the others.

Peter had met Otto briefly at Crusch's manor house and when he woke up on the loop in the back of the wagon when the White Whale attacked. It was hard to sort it out, but Peter thought that he had been one of Anastasia Hoshin's men. Hoshin's knight, Julius Juukulius had also come.

Though he wasn't traveling with them to the manor, Peter had asked a special favor of Falcon. Since he could fly fast enough to beat them to the manor, he was to fly there and deliver a message to Emilia. After that he would rejoin the larger subjugation force to help Crusch and ther others.

The group that was traveling into the Mathers Domain had still turned out to be a sizable one, but one that was mostly filled with people that Peter had mostly passing interactions with.

Kate Bishop he had only met a few days prior to this and other than a brief fight against Bucky in Germany the two had only interacted in this world.

They were making their way down the center of the road in a column that included the wagon flanked from front and back by Ground Dragons. As they moved Peter tried to remember where he had come across the Cultists the last time, but this route had been blocked and he had only seen them after Rem had abandoned him and Steve.

Ricardo rode up from the rear on his Liger with the massive sword slung back over his shoulder in a kind of easy going manner. He kept facing forward, though his eyes moved around as if he was searching for something.

"I don't come this way often," Ricardo said to Wilhelm. "But it feels like there should be more noise this close to the woods."

Wilhelm swept his coat back out of the way, revealing his sword hilts. "I was just thinking the same thing," he said.

Bucky glanced over his shoulder at the Wilhelm and Ricardo. "It could be from the Whale fight being nearby," he said. "It had to have been pretty noisy."

"Meow-Bucky here is right," Ferris said. "That fog that the Whale let out was laced with mana—that would for sure have scared off any beasties that were nearby."

Ricardo looked to Ferris. "Do you smell anything with that nose of yours?" He asked him.

Ferris shrugged. "Awr-meh," he said. "I never got really used to using my nose like that to be honest." As he was speaking his ears flexed side to side atop his head.

Julius had been just behind Peter to the right riding on a Ground Dragon with a yellow underside and blue scales running down its back with a feathery kind of growth on top of its head. He brought his hand up in front of himself with his palm out just as he got alongside Peter and there were several little balls of light swirling over it.

The balls of light were different colors and seemed to be doing a sort of complex dance. Peter pointed over at them. "Oh cool, lesser spirits."

Julius glanced up, meeting his gaze. "Actually these are Quasi Spirits. Kua, Ia, Alo, Ake, In, and Nes," he pointed at each of them in turn as he named them."